Circumvention

If Isthmus Montessori is approved as a public charter school, most families would no longer pay tuition.

For years, Isthmus Montessori Academy has been unsuccessfully trying to get the Madison school district to accept it as a public charter school. But the progressive school found another route — through a program created by conservative Republicans.

In a Jan. 31 letter to state Superintendent of schools Tony Evers, Gary Allen Bennett, director of the UW-System’s Office of Educational Opportunity, wrote that his office intends to enter into a charter contract with Isthmus Montessori Academy. The UW Board of Regents has final say over its approval.

“We really believe that IMA was worth taking a chance,” Bennett tells Isthmus. “It was worth creating new access to a proven model, and we believe Madison owes it to our community to make sure economic privilege is not a determining factor in educational opportunity.”

If approved by the Regents, most families at Isthmus Montessori will no longer have to pay tuition (exceptions would include the school’s 3K daycare program or afterschool programming).

The Office of Educational Opportunity, OEO, was created in 2015 by Republican lawmakers as part of the state’s 2015-2017 biennial budget. The office has the authority to approve independent charter schools statewide without say from local school boards. At the time, Madison school Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham criticized the office’s creation in a statement: “Independent charter schools have no consistent record of improving education for children, but they do drain resources from public schools, without any control in our local community or school board.”

Isthmus Montessori is the first — and only — charter contract to make it through the new office’s selection process.

The Montessori concept, which was developed more than a century ago, emphasizes self-directed learning, independence, community and respect for a child’s natural psychological, physical and social development. According to Bennett, there are 14 communities across the state with public Montessori charter options, but Madison is not one of them.

IMA co-founders Melissa Droessler and Carrie Marlette have been trying for six years to make IMA the district’s first public Montessori school. The school’s proposed contract to join Madison’s school district was rejected Aug. 21, 2017, by a 4-3 vote.

The district’s concerns ranged from the school’s proposed budget to its demographics and staffing. Isthmus Montessori did not respond to several requests for comment.

The Office of Educational Opportunity’s selection committee thinks Isthmus Montessori is worth taking the chance, and, that by making the school public, it can minimize what Bennett calls an “opportunity gap.”

“I firmly believe in ensuring that every family can access proven educational models regardless of their zip code or their ability to pay,” Bennett says. “Breaking down that barrier is worth doing because the biggest perpetrator for our achievement gap is really our opportunity gaps.”

If the Regents approve the school, it will enter a five-year contract with the office and operate as Isthmus Montessori Academy Public, or IMAP. During that time, or after, Bennett hopes IMAP will be folded into the district.

“The goal is that we can show that [IMAP] works as a public model and that the [school] board can evaluate outcomes,” says Bennett. “My office isn’t willing to wait for [the district] to say ‘yes,’ we’re willing to take this chance.”

If approved, IMAP will teach 4K through ninth grade, with the intention of expanding to 12th grade by the fourth year of its contract. For the first two years, it plans to admit no more than 184 students.

Even though the school would operate outside of the Madison district, the district will have to help fund IMAP — but it will share the burden with every other district in the state.

According to the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the Department of Public Instruction is required to reduce general school aid for each district to cover the cost of the state’s charter schools.

During the 2016-2017 school year, general aid was reduced by about 1.4 percent to make up the $62.2 million needed to cover the estimated cost of the independent charter school program.

Students that attend IMAP will be counted by the district for funding purposes from the state. But all of the funding those extra students generate will go directly to IMAP.

Kaleem Caire also applied for charter status for One City Senior Pre-School, a school on the south side for 4- and 5-year-olds. Bennett says the office is still considering that application. It’s possible it will recommend the Regents approve One City this funding cycle, but for now, only Isthmus Montessori has been recommended.

Cheatham believes these decisions are better made by local communities, but that the district would still work with the Office of Educational Opportunity and the schools that are given charter status.

“We know we have work to do in our own charter process so that we can take control of these options within our district, rather than leave it to an outside authorizer to take funding away from our public schools,” Cheatham says in a statement when asked for comment. “Our goal has been and still will be to make this office obsolete.